TSX, ASX: AVM
Common shares outstanding 101.3 million
All amounts are expressed in US dollars, unless otherwise stated.

MONTREAL, May 15 /CNW Telbec/ - Anvil Mining Limited (TSX, ASX: AVM),
("Anvil" or the "Company"), today announced a net loss for the first quarter
ended March 31, 2009, of $ 18.8 million (-$0.27 per share on a weighted
average number of shares basis), compared to net income of $21.6 million
($0.30 per share) for the first quarter of 2008. Net sales for the first
quarter of 2009 totalled $1.6 million, compared to $75.3 million for the
corresponding quarter in 2008. Negative cash flows from operating activities,
before working capital movements, of $11.9 million (-$0.17 per share),
compared to a positive cash flow of $35.3 million ($0.50 per share) in the
first quarter of 2008.

The Company's results were negatively affected by a number of factors
including: significantly lower production and sales resulting from Dikulushi
being placed on care and maintenance, the cessation of Heavy Media Separation
("HMS") processing at Mutoshi, the suspension of HMS operations and open pit
mining at Kinsevere during the fourth quarter of 2008 and lower realized
copper prices and one-off charges of $7.1 million for the first quarter of
2009.

Bill Turner, President and CEO of Anvil, commented, "Although copper
prices have shown some signs of improvement since the beginning of the year,
the Company continues to focus on cost minimization and cash preservation, in
accordance with the strategy put in place during the fourth quarter of 2008.
With the recommencement of the Kinsevere HMS plant in late March 2009, the
Company expects to be able to maintain a positive operating cash flow from the
HMS operations for the remainder of 2009 and be better positioned to secure
the funding required for completion of the Kinsevere Stage II SX-EW processing
plant. The Kinsevere HMS plant has performed well since its restart and is on
target to produce 8,900 tonnes of copper through to the third quarter of 2009.
As at April 30, 2009 it had produced 7,381 tonnes of concentrate at an average
grade of 27.4% copper, for 2,022 tonnes of copper metal."

The complete first quarter 2009 unaudited financial statements together
with the related Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) are available on
Anvil's website at www.anvilmining.com under the heading "Financial Reports"
within the Investor Relations section.

Cash and Liquidity

As at May 14, 2009, Anvil had approximately $54.0 million in cash
(including the net proceeds from the recent C$34.5 million Common Share
offering), $7.8 million in available-for-sale investments and $6.2 million of
receivables, approximately $2.7 million of which it expects to realize during
May 2009. During the next 12 months the Company's commitments include $15.0
million for pas de porte (entry premium) payments due to Gecamines and $22.0
million that relate to the Kinsevere Stage II development.

On May 4, 2009 the Company completed an offering of Common Shares that
raised gross proceeds of approximately C$34.5 million, which will be used to
make entry premium payments of $15 million due to Gecamines in respect of the
Kinsevere property and for general corporate purposes.

The Company remains committed to the development of its Kinsevere Stage
II 60,000 tonnes per year SX-EW plant, the completion of which requires
additional funding of approximately $200 million. The Company is continuing to
make progress in obtaining the funding required to complete Kinsevere Stage
II. Work on the technical due diligence report being prepared by SRK
Consulting for the syndicate of banks is progressing, and when completed, will
allow for credit approval to be sought during the second half of 2009.

Kinsevere HMS Production

The Kinsevere HMS plant was restarted on March 27, 2009, with feed to the
plant sourced from the Run of Mine ("ROM") stockpile comprising 259,000 tonnes
of ore grading 5.7% copper. The HMS plant is expected to produce approximately
8,900 tonnes of copper contained in concentrates through to Q3 2009, at an
operating cash cost at the mine gate of less than $0.50/lb Cu (inclusive of
sunk costs). Table 1 below sets out the details of the performance of the HMS
plant for the year to date.

Work is being carried out to investigate options available to extend
operation of the Kinsevere HMS plant beyond the third quarter of 2009.
Additional feed is potentially available from the Stage II stockpiled ore,
which currently amounts to more than one million tonnes at an average grade of
2.9% copper and there is potential to resume mining in the central pit where
there are available ore faces and broken stocks with an inventory of
approximately 780,000 tonnes at an average grade of 6.6%.

During the fourth quarter of 2008, the Company placed the remaining
engineering design, fabrication, construction works and procurement for the
Kinsevere Stage II SX-EW development on hold until adequate funding has been
secured. As at May 14, 2009 approximately $190 million ($168 million spent,
$22 million committed) of the budgeted cost of $380 million had been invested.

The Company is in discussions with contractors regarding completion of
the outstanding engineering design work relating mainly to electrical, piping
and instrumentation which is expected to take two to three months to complete.
The Company remains well positioned to readily recommence the Stage II
development and is reviewing suitable arrangements under which works could be
recommenced as quickly as possible, should the Company obtain the necessary
funding. The Company estimates that the timeframe for completion of
construction, dry commissioning, and hydraulic testing for readiness to
receive ore is approximately twelve months from award of contract.

Reminder - Q1 Conference Call and Webcast

A conference call will be held at 8:30 a.m. (Canada, Toronto time) today,
Friday May 15, 2009 coinciding with 8:30 p.m. (AWST - Australia, Perth time)
on the same day, to discuss the results announced in this News Release.

The details to access the conference call and the live audio webcast are
as follows:

Conference call: 1-416-915-5761
(Please call approximately five minutes prior to the scheduled start of
the call).
Live audio webcast of the conference call (listen mode only):
- CNW Group website at:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/webcast/viewEvent.cgi?eventID(equal sign)2656060
Replay Information (available for a period of 7 days):
- The conference call will be recorded and a playback of the call will
be available after the event by dialling 1-416-640-1917, Reservation
number 21305477 followed by the pound (number sign) key.

Anvil Mining Limited is an unhedged copper and silver producer whose
shares are listed for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange (as common shares)
and the Australian Securities Exchange (as CDIs) under the symbol AVM.

Caution Regarding Forward Looking Statements: This news release contains
"forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information", based on
assumptions and judgements of management regarding future events and results.
Such "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information which may
include, but is not limited to the intended use of proceeds from the common
share offering, the operation of the Kinsevere HMS plant, the liquidation of
the Company's available-for-sale investments, the Company's plans for
expansions of the Kinsevere copper mine and negotiations with the DRC
Government regarding the Mutoshi Joint Venture Agreement. Often, but not
always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such
as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "is expecting", "budget", "scheduled",
"estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes", or
variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state
that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", or
"will" be taken, occur or be achieved. The purpose of forward-looking
information is to provide the reader with information about management's
expectations and plans for 2009. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking
information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Anvil
and/or its subsidiaries to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking
information. Such factors include, among others, the actual market prices of
the available-for-sale investments, the actual market price of copper, changes
in project parameters as plans continue to be evaluated, and the possibility
of cost overruns, as well as those factors disclosed in the Company's filed
documents. There can be no assurance that funding to provide for the
recommencement of construction of Kinsevere Stage II will be available or the
Stage II expansion of the Kinsevere copper mine will proceed as planned or be
successfully completed within expected time limits and budgets or that, when
completed, the expanded facility will operate as anticipated. In addition,
there can be no assurance that the final outcome of the DRC Government review
of the Mutoshi Joint Venture agreement will not have an adverse effect on the
Company.